Page 1 of 5
3
End of Reconstruction
MAIN IDEA
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
As white Southerners regained
power, Reconstruction ended, as did
black advances toward equality.
Reforms made during Reconstruction
made later civil rights gains possible.
TERMS & NAMES
Fifteenth
Amendment
Compromise
of 1877
Panic of 1873
ONE AMERICAN’S STORY
Robert B. Elliott was a U.S. congressman from South
Carolina during Reconstruction. In 1874, he made a
speech in favor of a civil rights bill that would outlaw
racial discrimination in public service.
A V O I C E F R O M T H E PA S T
The passage of this bill will determine the civil status, not
only of the negro but of any other class of citizens who may
feel themselves discriminated against. It will form the
capstone of that temple of liberty begun on this continent.
Robert B. Elliott, quoted in The Glorious Failure
In 1877, federal troops left the South. White
Southerners took back control of the region. Quickly, they
forced African Americans, including Elliott, out of office. In
Section 3, you will learn about the events that ended
Reconstruction. You will also see how Reconstruction’s end
Robert B. Elliott lost his political
office when Reconstruction ended.
meant setbacks in the fight for civil rights.
The Election of Grant
The Republican Party seemed stronger than ever in 1868. That year, its
candidate, General Ulysses S. Grant, won the presidency. During the
campaign, the Democrats attacked the Republicans’ Reconstruction policies. They blamed the party for granting rights to African Americans.
On Election Day, however, the Republicans won. Grant received 214
electoral votes. His Democratic opponent received only 80. The popular
count was much closer. Grant had a majority of only 306,000 votes.
Grant would not have had such a majority without the freedmen’s
vote. Despite attacks by the Ku Klux Klan, about 500,000 African
Americans voted in the South. Most cast their ballots for Grant.
Taking Notes
Use your chart to
take notes about
voting.
Problems
Black codes
President Johnson
Education
Economy
Ku Klux Klan
Voting
Reconstruction 545
Page 2 of 5
The Fifteenth Amendment
AFRICAN AMERICANS
IN CONGRESS
Between 1870 and 1877, 16
African Americans served in
Congress. Seven are shown in
the picture below. Two were
senators: Hiram R. Revels and
Blanche K. Bruce, both of whom
were from Mississippi.
In 1999, there were 38
African Americans in Congress.
The longest-serving member
was John Conyers, a representative from Michigan elected
in 1964. Only two AfricanAmerican senators were elected
in the 20th century. Massachusetts senator Edward W. Brooke
served from 1967 to 1979.
Illinois senator Carol MoseleyBraun served from 1993 to 1999.
After Grant’s victory, Radical Republicans worried that
the Southern states might try to keep African Americans
from voting in future elections. To prevent this, Radical
leaders proposed a new constitutional amendment.
The Fifteenth Amendment stated that citizens
could not be stopped from voting “on account of race,
color, or previous condition of servitude.” (This amendment, like the Fourteenth Amendment, did not apply to
Native Americans on tribal lands.) The amendment was
ratified in 1870.
The Fifteenth Amendment was not aimed only at the
South. African-American men could not vote in 16
states. “We have no moral right to impose an obligation
on one part of the land which the rest will not accept,”
one Radical wrote. With the Fifteenth Amendment, the
nation again turned toward democracy.
The Fifteenth Amendment did not apply to women.
This made many white women angry. Why couldn’t they
vote when black men—former slaves—could? Suffragist
Elizabeth Cady Stanton protested the idea of uneducated
immigrants and freedmen “who never read the
Declaration of Independence” making laws
for educated white women. Most AfricanAmerican women were not as angry. To Frances
E. W. Harper, a black suffragist and writer, it was
important for African Americans to gain voting
rights, even if that meant only men at first.
Grant Fights the Klan
Despite gaining the vote, African Americans in the South continued to
be terrorized by the Ku Klux Klan. In 1871, to stop the terror, President
Grant asked Congress to pass a tough law against the Klan. Joseph
Rainey, a black congressman from South Carolina, had received death
threats from the Klan. He urged his fellow lawmakers to support the bill.
A V O I C E F R O M T H E PA S T
When myself and colleagues shall leave these Halls and turn our footsteps
toward our southern home we know not but that the assassin may await
our coming. Be it as it may we have resolved to be loyal and firm, and if
we perish, we perish! I earnestly hope the bill will pass.
Joseph Rainey, quoted in The Trouble They Seen
Congress approved the anti-Klan bill. Federal marshals then arrested
thousands of Klansmen. Klan attacks on African-American voters
declined. As a result, the 1872 presidential election was both fair and
peaceful in the South. Grant won a second term.
546
CHAPTER 18
A. Comparing
How was the
Fifteenth
Amendment a
step beyond the
Fourteenth
Amendment?
A. Answer While
the Fourteenth
Amendment
broadly granted
equal rights,
the Fifteenth
Amendment
guaranteed
voting rights.
Vocabulary
suffragist: someone who favors
equal voting
rights, especially
for women
Page 3 of 5
Scandal and Panic Weaken Republicans
B. Making
Inferences How
did Republican
scandals hurt
Reconstruction?
B. Possible
Responses They
made the party
and its policies
seem less moral;
they distracted
Republican politicians from
Reconstruction
goals.
C. Answer
economic depression, bankrupt
railroads, ruined
farmers, folded
companies, lost
jobs, and less
interest in
Reconstruction
C. Recognizing
Effects What
resulted from the
Panic of 1873?
Under the Grant administration, support for the Republicans and
Reconstruction weakened. Scandals hurt the administration and caused
divisions in the Republican Party. A financial panic further hurt the
Republicans and turned the country’s attention away from Reconstruction.
President Grant did not choose his advisers well. He put his former
army friends and his wife’s relatives in government positions. Many of
these people were unqualified. Some Grant appointees took bribes.
Grant’s private secretary, for instance, took money from whiskey distillers
who wanted to avoid paying taxes. Grant’s secretary of war, General
William Belknap, left office after
people accused him of taking bribes.
Such scandals deeply outraged many
Republicans. In 1872, some Republican officials broke away and formed
the new Liberal Republican Party.
The Republicans, no longer unified,
became less willing to impose tough
Reconstruction policies on the South.
In 1873, political corruption and
Republican quarreling gave way to a
more serious problem. When several
powerful Eastern banks ran out of
money after making bad loans, a
financial panic swept the country. In
the Panic of 1873, banks across the
land closed. The stock market temporarily collapsed. The panic caused
an economic depression, a time of low
business activity and high unemployment. The railroad industry, which
relied on banks for loans, suffered.
Within a year, 89 of the country’s 364
railroads went broke. Railroad failures left Midwestern farmers with no
way to move their crops, and many
farmers were ruined.
The depression, which lasted about
five years, touched nearly all parts of
the economy. By 1875, more than
18,000 companies had folded. Hundreds of workers had lost their jobs.
Many Americans blamed the crisis on the Republicans—the party in
power. As a result, Democrats won victories in the 1874 congressional
and state elections. In the middle of the depression, Americans grew
tired of hearing about the South’s problems. The nation was losing interest
in Reconstruction.
This cartoon from
Puck magazine
shows President
Grant weighed
down by
corruption in his
administration.
Reconstruction 547
Page 4 of 5
Supreme Court Reversals
To make matters worse for the Republicans, the Supreme Court began
to undo some of the changes that had been made in the South. In an
1876 case, U.S. v. Cruikshank, the Court ruled that the federal government could not punish individuals who violated the civil rights of
African Americans. Only the states had that power, the Court declared.
Southern state officials often would not punish those who attacked
African Americans. As a result, violence against them increased.
In the 1876 case U.S. v. Reese, the Court ruled in favor of white
Southerners who barred African Americans from voting. The Court
stated that the Fifteenth Amendment did not give everyone the right to
vote—it merely listed the grounds on which states could not deny the
vote. In other words, states could prevent African Americans from voting for other reasons. States later imposed poll taxes and literacy tests to
restrict the vote. These Court decisions weakened Reconstruction and
blocked African-American efforts to gain full equality.
Reconstruction Ends
This cartoon from
Harper’s Weekly
shows a federal
soldier as the
freedman’s only
defense against
white Southerners.
548
CHAPTER 18
The final blow to Reconstruction came with the 1876 presidential election. The Democrats nominated Samuel J. Tilden, governor of New
York. The Republicans chose Rutherford B. Hayes, governor of Ohio.
The race was very close. Victory depended on the electoral votes of South
Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida. The votes in those states were so close
that both the Democrats and the Republicans
claimed victory. A special commission of eight
Republicans and seven Democrats made a deal.
Under the Compromise of 1877, Hayes became
president. In return, the Republicans compromised
with the Southern Democrats on several issues.
1. The government would remove federal troops
from the South.
2. The government would provide land grants
and loans for the construction of railroads
linking the South to the West Coast.
3. Southern officials would receive federal funds
for construction and improvement projects.
4. Hayes would appoint a Democrat to his cabinet.
5. The Democrats promised to respect African
Americans’ civil and political rights.
Abolitionist Wendell Phillips was against the compromise. He doubted
that the South would respect black rights. “The whole soil of the South is
hidden by successive layers of broken promises,” he said. “To trust a
Southern promise would be fair evidence of insanity.”
After the 1876 presidential election, the Reconstruction governments
in the South collapsed. The Democrats returned to power, believing that
they were the redeemers, or rescuers, of the South.
D. Recognizing
Effects
How did the
Reese and
Cruikshank
rulings affect
African
Americans’
efforts to gain
civil rights?
D. Answer One
ruling made it
easier for attacks
against African
Americans to go
unpunished. The
other made it easier to keep them
from voting.
E. Answer scandals that split the
Republican Party,
the Panic of 1873,
the Reese and
Cruikshank
Supreme Court
rulings, and the
Compromise of
1877
E. Summarizing
What events led
to a weakening
of support for
Reconstruction?
Page 5 of 5
Reconstruction: Civil Rights Amendments and Laws
Civil Rights Act of 1866
• Granted citizenship and equal rights to all persons born
in the United States (except Native Americans)
Fourteenth Amendment (1868)
• Granted citizenship and equal protection of the laws to all
persons born in the United States (except Native Americans)
Fifteenth Amendment (1870)
• Protected the voting rights of African Americans
Civil Rights Act of 1875
• Outlawed racial segregation in public services
• Ensured the right of African Americans to serve as jurors
SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Charts
1. Which amendment and law are most similar?
2. Which amendment specifically protects voting rights?
The Legacy of Reconstruction
Historians still argue about the success of Reconstruction. The nation
did rebuild and reunite. However, Reconstruction did not achieve
equality for African Americans.
After Reconstruction, most African Americans still lived in poverty.
Legally, they could vote and hold public office. But few took part in politics. They continued to face widespread violence and prejudice.
During this period, however, African Americans did make lasting
gains. Protection of civil rights became part of the U.S. Constitution.
The Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments would provide a legal basis
for civil rights laws of the 20th century. Black schools and churches
begun during Reconstruction also endured. Reconstruction changed
society, putting African Americans on the path toward full equality. In
the next unit, you will learn about other changes in American society
after the Civil War.
Section
3
Skillbuilder
Answers
1. Civil Rights
Act of 1866;
Fourteenth
Amendment
2. Fifteenth
Amendment
Assessment
1. Terms & Names
2. Using Graphics
3. Main Ideas
4. Critical Thinking
Explain the
significance of:
Review the chapter and find
five significant individuals
and events to place on a time
line as shown.
a. What did the Fifteenth
Amendment declare?
Drawing Conclusions
Why do you think the
Republicans were willing to
agree to the Compromise of
1877 and end Reconstruction?
• Fifteenth
Amendment
• Panic of 1873
• Compromise of
1877
1865
event
event
event
event
1877
event
Which event or person was
most important and why?
b. What effect did scandals
in the Grant administration
have on the Republican
Party?
c. What demands did
Southern Democrats make
in the Compromise of 1877?
THINK ABOUT
• the election of 1876
• the Panic of 1873
• the Supreme Court rulings
ACTIVITY OPTIONS
LANGUAGE ARTS
CIVICS
Research Ku Klux Klan activities barring African Americans from voting. Then
write a protest letter to the editor or propose a law to protect voting rights.
Reconstruction 549